Claim Staking
by Standard-Ang3l
Summary: Caitlyn has jealousy issues when it comes to Jason and her assistant.


So, while making sets on polyvore, I realized that I was using an awful lot of bird things for Caitlyn. And since Jason always wants a birdhouse, I decided to go with it. This happened. xD

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><p>Jason had been noticing something lately. Caitlyn had been wearing things with birds. Really often. Like, every day. Either as earrings or on a necklace or printed on her top or dress and once on her socks.<p>

He kind of liked it. It made him feel like they had something in common.

She was wearing a pocket watch necklace with an owl on it today.

She had also caught him staring at it a few times.

And she would immediately look down and make sure her shirt was buttoned.

When they broke for lunch, Caitlyn went into her office and closed the door behind her. Jason knocked a little while later, holding a grilled cheese sandwich and an iced mocha in his hands for her.

"Caity…you need to eat. I saw you down that Monster this morning. You need food."

"I'll eat in a little bit. I need to finish this email!"

"No, Caity. You'll eat now," Jason said, pushing his way inside.

Caitlyn was sitting at her desk, bent over her laptop and glared at Jason as he sat across from her. "Thanks, Jase. What if I was changing clothes or something?"

"You have spare clothes in your office?" Jason asked, pushing the food towards her.

Caitlyn nodded. "Ella got me in the habit."

He briefly thought about pouring the iced mocha on her just to see what her spare clothes looked like, but he decided against it. He didn't need Caitlyn and Ella mad at him.

"So, Birdman. What'd you get me in the way of food?" she asked, pulling the paper-wrapped sandwich to her.

"Grilled cheese and an iced mocha."

Caitlyn smiled at him widely. "Aw, two of my favorites."

"I know," Jason said absently, staring at the business card holder on her desk. He had just noticed it. It had a bird perched on it. And there was a brightly-colored print of two owls on a tree branch behind her on the wall.

Why did she have so much bird stuff?

Really.

"Caity?" he asked, touching the bird on the card holder.

"Yesh?" she asked through a mouthful of cheese and bread.

"You've been wearing a lot of bird stuff lately," he commented.

"Yeah…uh…birds are cute," she said, moving the straw up and down in her drink.

"And you have a lot of bird stuff in general now."

Caitlyn smiled at him with her straw in her mouth and shrugged. "I went on a modcloth binge. Spent _way_ too much money."

"How much is too much?" Jason asked.

She looked at him. "You know when we went to that guitar store a couple of weeks ago and you came out with like, five guitars?"

Jason blushed slightly. He _had_ gone a little overboard. He nodded.

"It was like that, but with dresses and tops and home furnishing stuff."

"Home furnishing stuff? Like what?" he asked.

Caitlyn blushed. "Some curtains and a string of decorative lights…a sugar dish…"

"A sugar dish?" Jason asked with a smile.

She gave him a glare. "Yes. I like sugar and I needed some place to keep it for when I have coffee or cereal."

"But why is it _all_ bird stuff, Caity?" Jason asked. He needed to know.

Caitlyn reached down and started playing with her necklace. She was clicking it open and closed and chewing on her lip and was staring anywhere else but at him.

"Caity…" he said softly. "You can tell me, you know. You don't have to be embarrassed."

She laughed under her breath. "It's sort of embarrassing though," she said, pulling her hair back.

Jason sighed and got up from his chair, walking around to her side of the desk. "Caitlyn Gellar. You tell me right now why you like bird stuff or I will get it out of you in a way you won't like," he said dangerously.

She looked up at him in slight fear. "Jason Gray. You tickle me and I will have to seriously hurt you."

He smirked down at her as he put his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned in. "You won't be able to hurt me if you're laughing."

"If you tickle me and I kick you in these," she said, poking the toe of her big brown boots at his shin, "I'll hurt you."

Jason's grin widened. "Then I guess I have to take them off to avoid injury…"

Caitlyn whined. "Jason…don't. I need my shoes…"

"Don't whine, Caity," he said softly, moving his hand down to unzip one of her boots and slowly removed it.

"Jase…" she hissed as he unzipped the other one. She squirmed.

"The bird socks again, Caity?" he asked. "Really. What is your obsession with birds?"

"Tell me what's yours and I'll think about telling you mine."

Jason smiled slightly. "I asked you first."

"You've had your obsession longer."

"Fine," he said. He had just seen the bluebird earrings in her lobes. "I like birds because…they sing and fly and always seem happy…and they're bright." All the same reasons he liked Caitlyn.

Caitlyn smiled. "That's sort of the reason I got into birds…"

"What's the other reason?"

Caitlyn looked down at her socked feet. "Birds…they uh…they remind me of you…"

Jason grinned. "I remind you of birds?"

She nodded and dropped her head. "I told you it was embarrassing."

He laughed. "Caity. You're not the only one who gets reminded of somebody when they see bird-related things."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him. "Who do you think of?"

He gave her a look of disbelief and laughed. "Who do you think, Caity?"

"Me?"

"Duh," he said. "You're like a hummingbird or something. All bright and zippy and small."

Caitlyn snorted. "You've been thinking about that line for a while, haven't you?"

Jason blushed and backed away from Caitlyn. "N-no!" He had forgotten about the boots he had taken off Caitlyn's feet until he felt himself falling backwards.

"Jase! Jase, are you okay?" Caitlyn asked, jumping out of her chair and crawling towards him on the floor.

He groaned and rubbed the back of his head as he sat up. "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Are you sure? I could get Laurel to get some ice…" she said, lifting her hand up to inspect his head for damage.

Jason shook his head quickly. He didn't want to deal with Caitlyn's assistant who had a huge crush on him. He'd much rather have Caitlyn's fingers running through his hair.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. This is nice," he said, smiling at Caitlyn. She smiled back and scooted towards him.

There was a knock on the door and it opened. "Caitlyn, you—oh," Laurel said, noticing them sitting on the floor, very close to each other. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Nate wants to get back to work. He told me to find you and Jason like, fifteen minutes ago."

Caitlyn glared at her assistant. "And you just started looking for me now?"

Laurel shrunk back slightly. "No…I was looking for Jason, but I couldn't find him."

"You looked for a client before you looked for _your boss_?"

"Um…" said the redhead. "Yes?"

Caitlyn sighed. "Laurel…get out. We'll be having a talk later."

Laurel sniffed and tossed her hair before she walked out, slamming the door behind her.

"That girl…" Caitlyn growled.

Jason gave Caitlyn a sympathetic look and handed her the boots he had taken off her feet earlier.

"Don't kill her…at least not until you have another assistant lined up."

"I make no promises," Caitlyn said as she tugged her boots on. "Thanks for the lunch, Birdman." She grinned at him as he helped her up and she quickly stood on her tiptoes and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

Jason blushed and smiled softly at her. "No problem, Caity."

(LINE)

After Connect 3 had left the studio, Caitlyn marched out to the office and leaned over Laurel's desk.

"Laurel," Caitlyn started calmly. "I know it's cool to be working with Connect 3 and all, but…you are _my_ assistant. Not Nate's, not Shane's and definitely _not_ Jason's."

"But—" Laurel started.

"No. Listen to me. I know you have a crush on him. I can see it. But you want to know something?" Caitlyn said, leaning forward and pulling the taller girl towards her by the shirt. "Jason is mine. He might not know it yet, but he's mine. And you are going to treat me like an assistant should treat her boss. That means you knock on the door and wait for me to say it's okay for you to come in, that you don't go looking for someone else first, and that you don't slam my damn door. Got it?"

"G-got it," Laurel said shakily.

"Good," Caitlyn said with a satisfied smile. "Now don't forget it."

(LINE)

Caitlyn slumped over the mixing board and sighed. This was the fifth time Nate was redoing the song that had sounded fine four sessions ago.

"Cait. We're ready," he said impatiently.

She growled and savagely pressed the button to the loudspeaker. "Well, I'm not. Give me ten minutes," she barked into the microphone before hopping out of her chair and striding to the kitchenette. She ripped open the fridge door and peered into it.

Cranberry-lime sparkling water. Ah. That made things better. She sat down in one of the chairs and rubbed the back of her neck. She was really, really sore.

All of a sudden, her hand was pushed away by another and she felt callused fingers start digging into the skin of her neck. She jumped.

"Calm down, Caity. It's just me," Jason said, moving his hands from her neck to her shoulders.

Caitlyn groaned. "Good god, Jase. I…I…Oh…" she sighed and relaxed. It was easy to relax with Jason. Especially after the bird conversation yesterday. It gave her hope that maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way about her.

"Yeah?" he asked with an audible smile.

"I…forgot…" she said with a happy sigh that turned into a moan.

Jason paused and lifted his hands from her shoulders. Caitlyn turned to him with a whine.

He smiled at her. "Just closing the door, Caity. Shane and Nate would be wondering what we were doing if they heard those noises you were making."

Caitlyn scoffed. "What would they think we were doing, Jase?" She knew the answer she wanted to hear, but she wasn't going to say anything unless Jason said something first.

"Uhh…nothing. Not important. Anyway. Why're you so stressed out?" he asked, once again rubbing her shoulders. She felt him breathe lightly against the back of her neck.

Her head fell back and she let out a shuddery breath. "Nate," she said with an edge to her voice.

"And why is Nate stressing you out?" Jason asked slowly.

"Because he—ah. Lower, please?" she arched her back and exhaled. "Because he always—ow—wants—a little to the left, thanks—to redo the songs. Five times, Jase. Five times today for one song. I'm only letting him get away with this because of y—it's you guys. Up and to the left and dig into the shoulder blade, okay?"

Jason laughed. "You're demanding today."

"You would be too, if you were producing Connect 3's next album," she said, craning her neck to the side. Jason put his hand on her neck and tilted it up.

"I'm singing and playing guitar for it. Does that count?"

"No. It doesn't." She grunted as Jason kneaded out a knot in her back. "God, Jase. You have magic hands, you know that?"

"I've been told a time or two," he said softly into her ear. Caitlyn froze.

"Y-you have?" she stammered, partly out of surprise and partly out of jealousy.

He shrugged. "Some girls just have a really weird fascination with electric guitars."

Okay, _now _she was jealous. Caitlyn whined as his fingers ran down her spine. Why did she wear her thinnest shirt today? "Who—right there, yeah, harder—are these other girls?"

"Your assistant? Laurel? And that one of Ella's…Tara? I don't know."

"Laurel?" Caitlyn said with a growl. "The one who came in to my office yesterday and was a bitch?"

"Yeah, um…she's sort of fond of talking to me…she knows a lot about guitars."

Caitlyn's face turned into a snarl. "Why the hell would she do that? She knows you belong to me. I told her after you guys left yesterday."

Jason's hands paused on her neck. "What did you just say?"

Caitlyn froze and her eyes went wide. "I…I…I…" she stammered. Then she felt something moving on her neck. "Jase…that's…that not your hand…" He was kissing her neck. Very slowly. And rubbing her shoulders.

"Very astute," he whispered.

She sighed softly. "Oh god. You're perfect. You give me a massage and kiss my neck and use words from the SAT test."

"Glad I meet your high standards," he said, making his way up her jawline.

"What can I say? I'm demanding."

"You _could_ not say anything," he said against her mouth. "But feel free to make that moany-whiney- sigh noise again. That was really attractive."

"Shut up, Jase," Caitlyn said, turning in her seat to meet his lips. She slid her hands into his hair and grinned. Jason's hands were rubbing circles on her back and stroking that soft spot where her spine and neck met. She was absolutely melting. Jason was turning her into a puddle of relaxed goo. She had just shifted in her chair and pressed herself against him when the door flew open.

"Final—oh," said Nate.

Caitlyn and Jason broke apart and smiled sheepishly.

"I guess we can wait until tomorrow to re-record that, then?"

Jason narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. "We're moving on to the next song tomorrow, Nathaniel. Caity's already cut us a lot of slack by letting us redo it as many times as we have."

"Fine. I'm sure one of the cuts is usable."

"Nate? I'm only going to say this once," Caitlyn spoke up. "You get three tries tomorrow for the next song…and then, you will leave me alone. I'm a magician and I need time to perfect your so-called 'horrible' demos."

He blinked. "Fine. I'm going to go avoid Laurel. Also? Caitlyn? I get that Jason's a good kisser, but don't be so loud."

"Well, next time, Jase and I will just make out in the recording booth, alright? Totally soundproof."

"Just…make sure the microphones are _off_, okay? Sometimes Brown likes to come in the studio…"

"Yes, I know. Ella told me," Caitlyn said. "Bye, Nate."

"She means, get out now," Jason said sharply.

As Nate closed the door and left them alone, Caitlyn grinned. "We're going to my office. It's almost my lunch break and Laurel will come in with my delivery…and see us making out on my couch."

"You're totally not staking your claim, are you?" Jason asked as Caitlyn led him down the hall to her office.

Caitlyn laughed. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I belong to you apparently."

"Newsflash, Jase?" Caitlyn said as she pulled him into her office, "I staked my claim a while ago."

(LINE)

Jason grinned at Caitlyn's gray bird socks as she kicked off her boots and pulled her against him again. She laughed and pushed him back towards the couch before she straddled him. He kissed her again and ran his fingers through her hair. She whined as he started rubbing the back of her neck again.

"Hey, Cait—oh," said a voice.

Caitlyn quickly jumped off of Jason's lap and grinned in triumph at her assistant. "Yes, Laurel?"

Laurel looked from Caitlyn to Jason in confusion and blankly handed Caitlyn a paper bag full of food. "Here's your tacos and bean soup."

Caitlyn smiled again. "Thank you, Laurel," she said, taking the bag. "You can go now," she said pointedly when Laurel still hadn't moved after a moment.

Laurel pouted slightly and closed the door behind her.

Caitlyn turned to Jason and gave him a huge grin. "And now that Laurel is aware of us, it's time for me to eat."

"Really, Caity? That's why you made out with me? To make Laurel jealous?"

Caitlyn smiled and leaned forward. "It was _a_ reason. But it wasn't the main one."

"What was the main one then?" Jason asked.

Caitlyn shrugged. "Because I like you, Birdman," she said simply, running her fingers down the side of his face.


End file.
